In one study, an experimenter hid a poker chip in her hand and asked adolescents to evaluate the truthfulness of the following statement: "The chip in my hand is green and it is not green." An adolescent who is capable of propositional thought would most likely answer that this statement is
A) always false, regardless of the color of the poker chip.
B) false only if the poker chip is not green.
C) true if the poker chip is green.
D) always true, regardless of the color of the poker chip.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The statement "The chip in my hand is green and it is not green" is a contradiction because it asserts both a proposition and its negation simultaneously. Propositional thought allows individuals to understand and manipulate ideas in the abstract, without needing concrete examples. Therefore, an adolescent capable of propositional thought would recognize that the statement is logically impossible and always false, as it violates the law of non-contradiction, which states that a proposition cannot be both true and false in the same sense at the same time.

In One Study, an Experimenter Hid a Poker Chip in Her